In the third year: there has been a great deal written about the apparent conflict between this statement and Jeremiah, where the text speaks of “the fourth year” (Jer 25.1; 46.2). This difference has been accounted for by some writers by the fact that the year when the king began to reign was counted differently in Babylonia and in Israel. In any case the text of Daniel says “in the third year,” and this is what must be translated.

Jehoiakim: on the reign of King Jehoiakim, see 2 Kgs 23.36–24.6 as well as 2 Chr 36.5-7. In those languages where there is no distinction between the /k/ and /ch/ sounds, special care must be taken in the transliteration of this proper name, so that there is a clear distinction between Jehoiakim and his son Jehoiachin (2 Kgs 24.6).

King: in certain languages there is no exact equivalent for the word “king,” since this kind of hierarchy, or classification of levels of people in society, does not exist in the culture of the receptor language. So it may be necessary to use the word for “chief” or resort to an expression meaning “big boss,” “the one who commands,” or something similar. One language in the Asia-Pacific Region has to say “older brother with uplifted name.” In some languages it will be more natural to place the title before the name, and in others it will sound better after the name. Translators should ask themselves which sounds better, “King Jehoiakim of Judah,” or “Jehoiakim, king of Judah,” or possibly “the king of Judah, Jehoiakim.” The same kind of order should probably also be used with King Nebuchadnezzar in the expressions that follow.

Nebuchadnezzar: this name appears thirty-two times in the Book of Daniel, all of them in the first five chapters. Some older Catholic versions of the Bible use a different spelling based on the ancient Greek and Latin versions of the Old Testament, but most modern English versions are agreed on the above spelling. This form therefore is the one that should be the basis of transliteration into other languages.

Babylon: In the Bible Babylon may mean “Babylon” or “Babylonia” in modern terms. That is, it may refer to the capital city or to the whole region. The king resided in the capital but was ruler over the entire country. For this reason Good News Translation uses the term “Babylonia.” Some languages may prefer to say “the country of Babylon.”

Came to Jerusalem and besieged it: the first of these two verbs is very common and is usually translated “come,” “come in,” or “go,” “go in.” In some languages the choice between “come” and “go” depends on the supposed position of the writer. Given the context, it may be better to select a more precise word or phrase as in Good News Translation. However, translators should be careful not to choose a verb that may contradict the next one (as the choice in Good News Translation seems to do). New Jerusalem Bible (New Jerusalem Bible) may be a good model, with “marched on Jerusalem.” The second verb, besieged, involves placing soldiers on all sides of a city in order to cut off all supplies of arms and food. In this way the inhabitants of the city would eventually be required to surrender to the surrounding forces.

Also, in some languages it will be much more natural to supply the information that King Nebuchadnezzar was accompanied by his army, since it may sound absurd to say that one person was able to surround or lay siege to an entire city. An additional model for this verse may be “During the third year that King Jehoiakim was ruling over Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia marched with his army to the city of Jerusalem and surrounded it in order to make the inhabitants give up.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .